


War Outside the Door

by tzigane, Zaganthi (Caffiends)



Series: Ashes to Ashes [3]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Stargate Fusion, Bonding, Engineering, Exile, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Nanites, Nanites (Stargate), Shameless Smut, There is no justice, Touch-Starved, ZERO System (Gundam Wing), amateur surgery, demisexual Wufei, pansexual Treize, suicidal impulses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23764669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tzigane/pseuds/tzigane, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caffiends/pseuds/Zaganthi
Summary: "Where did you get the plans?" That was what he had meant, because Quatre had obviously had the plans when he'd built the one he used to blow upa colony. Wufei was sure that he had made a mistake coming for Khushrenada, because he felt like his head just kept swimming and maybe it was contagious."In an old family vault. Ancient tech, you know? All of this and worse has been done before, and if we're infected with nanites and I have to kill my best officer because she's got an evil parasite, well, fuck it, I say. Let's have enhanced decision making, too." He almost jauntily pulled down a tarp, and there was a massive dark maroon metal Mech, and an entry hatch that was bigger than Wufei was accustomed to.
Relationships: Chang Wufei/Treize Khushrenada
Series: Ashes to Ashes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711870
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	War Outside the Door

Escaping from the Lunar Base after being nearly suffocated had been difficult. Hypoxia had never been on his list of fun ways to die at any given point in his life, and he had no idea how they'd managed to successfully battle themselves free. What Chang Wufei did know was that he needed somewhere to hide, and it had better be a damned good choice.

Most of the other pilots were still in space; he'd decided on a return to Earth, partially because he knew no one would be looking for him there, partially because there was no point returning to quarantine on L5, and partially because that son of a bitch Khushrenada had resigned the same day that they'd escaped.

He didn't know what had happened to Heero, and he didn't want to know for the moment. Eventually they would meet again, their missions always slightly misaligned in a way that bothered him. There were a lot of things that bothered him about that.

For the moment, Khushrenada bothered him more.

Wufei wasn't sure what had happened there, but he was damned determined to find out. There was no way he was going to let go of his vengeance, not now.

Not ever.

How did a man like that think he could just... resign? Why would he resign? Just step down and go to some palatial estate or, it made no damn sense. There was no justice in acting like that! No sense in it, because that sort of man would be eating the rest of the world alive still, no matter what else might be happening around him.

No matter where he was.

Where he turned out to be Luxembourg. It had always seemed like a ridiculous country to Wufei, tiny and out of the way, which was probably an odd opinion for someone who lived on a colony, but there it was. In any case, it was much more difficult to land and hide away his Nataku, which meant that he had to land in Belgium before traveling across the border to Urspelt, the location of the estate to which Treize had been... Wufei wasn't sure, exactly. Staying? Held? He didn't know.

It was, of course, a castle, which fit with his image of the man as completely ridiculous and unbelievable, but there were a great many cars and people there, well lit, well staffed, no obvious military presence. None of it made sense, even once he figured out it was a hotel. That just made it more bewildering. What the hell could be going on? It was confusing, which was annoying, and which led to him doing the most bizarre thing he had imagined he might do at any point while stalking down a man to challenge and possibly kill.

He booked a bloody room.

If he booked a room he could mingle with the guests, wander the restaurant, ask questions about the building, and find the bastard once night fell. He refused to believe that it and the former general weren't being monitored so he needed to act as normal as possible.

That meant going into town, of course, because the last thing someone did was show up at a damnable castle-hotel without luggage, and no one needed to see him looking like himself. It was annoying because sneaking in the time before had been so much easier, and he hadn't needed to do anything except be well aware of any patrols or security measures. Now, of course, the last thing he needed to look like was himself because undoubtedly they'd have released photographs and information on the escaped Gundam pilots.

By the time he checked in, he knew what he looked like -- innocuous and non-threatening, a student, perhaps, someone visiting a country on his way through to somewhere else who thought the idea of staying in a renovated castle seemed like a fun stop. No one anyone would look at twice, Wufei figured.

He didn't expect the man behind the front desk to eye him in a distinctly slow way as he copied his information and took his payment, an orange cat that was mostly a giant floof perched on the counter and watching him suspiciously. "We have a nice room near the stairwell."

"That sounds fine." Wufei wasn't entirely sure what he meant by the look or the commentary about the stairwell. He'd have to keep an eye on him, just in case he was suspicious regarding his actual identity. "I suppose there's information on the property in the rooms, or...?"

"Oh yes, there's an excellent guidebook in every room and maps that show the way to the gym, the restaurant, the stables, and nearby locations of historical interest."

"Thank you." There was no reason not to avail himself of the information, particularly if it led his search for Treize Khushrenada in this place. Wufei's guess was that he was probably in whatever passed for the finest room, but who could say?

"Dinner begins at six and is served until ten. The bar closes at one. The gym is open twenty-four hours a day. Please enjoy your stay here, Mr. Kodachi."

Twenty minutes later, his mostly empty luggage had been stored away in the room, he had trolled through the brochures and information in the rooms, and decided to take a walk and see what he could find. He was starting to wonder if the information was perhaps false; this didn't seem like the sort of place to which a man like Khushrenada would go. And even if it were, it didn't seem as if the place was under heavy surveillance. It seemed to have a natural pattern of life like any business, and it was a hotel. There were people out jogging and others out for a stroll, so he decided a leisurely walk was possible. Who knew what he'd find?

The courtyard was wide and beautiful, full of trees. It looked as though they were setting up for a wedding of some sort with white tents and chairs everywhere. Wufei wandered through it, taking a detour through some of the gardens. There were roses everywhere in wild profusion, red and lavender and coral, yellow and white and pink. The smell was exquisite and a little overwhelming, but they all led to a sort of maze near the back, where there were hedges and roses growing on vines along a number of trellises. It looked a little older, a little less fancy, so he continued through the maze, keeping to the left as logic dictated because hedge mazes could be solved that way as long as no one had put a tiger trap down in it. He was fairly certain that even Khushrenada wouldn't do something that crazy considering how many guests the hotel seemed to host, and the very idea made his mouth quirk up into a smile. 

When the maze played out, it slowly lowered in height until he could see well beyond it and into the forest growing behind it; not old growth, precisely, and there were a number of fields wandering out to the sides, but there was also what looked like a hunting lodge, perhaps, in the old style. There was another building off to the side. It looked something like the castle, and also somehow older. Probably another building that they used for meetings or banquets, he supposed, and kept up his easy pace as he walked toward it, looking around. If anyone intruded, he was a wandering tourist; that was what tourists did, gawk at the old buildings. It was why the old buildings were still kept standing, after all.

There was a sort of clanking noise around the way, but he wasn't sure if it would be entirely wise to walk straight there. Instead he paused, tilted his head to the side, and looked at the building. It was a bit like the castle -- same ecru outer walls and stone windows, stained glass in some of the upper windows. He found it appealing overall and the building to the side was of the same general appearance. It seemed newer, he thought, and it had wide doors that seemed as if they would open enough to allow large objects to come through. Storage, perhaps, or maybe a barn that had been converted. Wufei glanced behind him just to check and see if anyone had noticed him and then moved closer.

No one seemed to be following and indeed, no one seemed to care. There was a couple behind him at a distance, making out under an old ash tree as if they were the first couple ever to have contemplated fucking beneath trees.

Tourists.

He meandered with lazy care and some curiosity toward the building with the large doors, and the gentle mechanical noise he could hear. Yes, there was something going on in there, perhaps welding, he didn't know, but there was a familiar sound to it. Enough so that it made him frown and tilt his head, because he knew that sound. He was sure he knew it, it was familiar, it was...

Wufei's steps quickened and he stepped around the side of the building, scowl firmly in place. No windows low down, a few higher up. No way to see inside, so he continued to the back to see if there were any there.

The gravel crunched under his feet as he circled the place; he found the lower windows covered in shutters, and the front double doors seemed to be all there was. The hammering continued, and it felt _hot_ when he neared the windows.

His curiosity was overwhelming. He could feel himself grinding his teeth and glaring, and he scowled up at the windows on the far side. What the hell was going on in there? He needed to get in there, and that led to the question of, window or doors. What was a tourist most likely to do?

He glared at the windows, then walked around to the double doors, eying them. Well. If sneakiness weren't the answer, there was only one option, he supposed.

Wufei stepped closer and knocked on the door.

The noise stopped. That was promising, and there was silence or hesitance, he wasn't sure which. Eventually there was more clanging, like a clumping, and then the door creaked open.

There was Treize Khushrenada in coveralls, looking thoughtful but not surprised. "Ah. I'd thought it was time for coffee."

...the fuck?

"Coffee?" Wufei couldn't help the blank way he said it. That was not what he had come to say. He had come to demand answers, to know _why_ , to find out if he had known about the murder attempt on the lunar base prisoners, to...

Now all he could do was stare at him blankly.

"Mmm. It's quite civilized to take a break at ten and two for a breather and a coffee. Here, come in." He continued lingering in the door, looking sweaty and thoughtful. "Come in."

Everything about this was surreal. Wufei didn't know what to think, but he took a step forward, black brows knitting together. "What are you doing?"

The man walked casually, not quite turning his back to Wufei, but certainly his shoulder. The space was filled with something massive covered in tarps and the space of the building now clearly included a deeply recessed floor that only left a few feet of catwalk ringing the center on either side. It smelled of metal, oil, grease, heat, and a ringing metallic tang he knew well. "Creating."

Creating what was the question. Wufei could feel the hair prickling to stand on the back of his neck and he turned his eyes to Khushrenada because something was very wrong. "I see." He didn't. He didn't see at all, and he was starting to feel paranoid. "How much have you been drinking?" This was not the man he'd fought before; or... it was but it also wasn't.

Treize gave him a tight smile in response to that, as he took off his welding gauntlets. "I could ask you the same question, given the risk inherent in coming to my doorstep."

At least he seemed to recognize him. "I wanted answers." And now he just felt... blank? Worried? Uncertain? He wasn't sure. "You don't seem quite..."

Another quick, tight expression. "What were you expecting? I was forced to step down. It's a coup, you know. I don't expect it to last long, and in the meantime..."

Oh. Oh, and the fact that he felt relieved by that was disturbing. Not that, precisely, but the fact that he at least wasn't drunk or, or insane. Or at least not any more than usual.

...probably.

"I want to know." His voice was harsher now, more under his control. "What were your orders regarding the prisoners on the lunar base?"

"I had prisoners on the lunar base?" Treize waved a hand as he led Wufei toward a long work table covered in electronic bits, and pulled out two stools from beneath it. There was another knock on the door, and he could see the man from the front desk hesitating at the doorway. "Now, _that_ is coffee."

"Sir." The man strode forward when beckoned, tray in hand with coffee for two and a sampling of pastries, a couple delicate and flaky, another some sort of tart, it appeared. "I've brought tea for you and your guest."

Wufei's head swam a little. Perhaps he should revisit the man's commentary about the location of the stairwell, as he seemed to think he was here for some sort of assignation.

"Excellent, thank you, Claude. I believe my guest will be staying for dinner, as well, so if you could tell Chef, I would appreciate it." If he hadn't already, and that was daunting. Treize took the tray and set it on the table, nudging capacitors and wrapped bits of wire aside.

"Of course, sir."

If Wufei's mouth dropped open and Claude closed the door behind him on the way out, apparently that was just the way things were going to happen. "I am not staying for dinner!"

"Stay for dinner. I imagine it was a long trip from the... lunar base, which I suppose you've blown up as well. I wouldn't know. I'm not allowed the news." He started to fuss with the coffee.

"I did not blow it up!" They'd given it serious consideration and they'd blown up a few mechs and the soldiers in them. Kill or be killed. That was life. "Even after they nearly suffocated me!"

"Ah, then that's all right. Someone will want to use it again when this is all over." He perched on a stool while he poured two cups of coffee. "I suppose that was Tsubarov. They'll be fighting among themselves for control of OZ, now."

Great. Even more lovely ways to die, then. And here he was, chasing down Treize Khushrenada. It was all a little bit head spinning. The fact that he was about to sit down to coffee with the man probably wasn't helping that at all. Giving a loud hefty sigh, Wufei stepped forward and pulled one of the stools closer, scowling as he accepted his coffee. "Thank you." It was a bit begrudging, but whatever.

The man smiled, and gave a quiet huff that might've been amusement. "You're welcome." He sipped at his coffee, and they were both quiet for a moment, in the under lit... whatever it was. Workshop. "I'm very tired. If you've come to kill me, I'd appreciate a few more days to work. There are some excellent museums you could visit first."

"Killing you now would be unsatisfactory." It was an immediate answer, stiff and sullen, but it also wasn't wrong. He wanted to defeat the man. He wanted him to suffer for all the things that had been done to his people, his _family_. He wanted to kill him for his father and for his mother and for his grandparents.

He wanted to kill him for Meiran.

Treize chuckled quietly. "Ah? Shall I reclaim my title and my power first?"

Well. "Yes. For now, you appear to be suffering." From a vague sort of obsession if not outright madness. Wufei didn't have to be happy about it. "What are you building?" He took one of the pastries and took a bite, trying not to close his eyes in enjoyment.

He was enjoying the small mouthful he'd taken, when the man carefully pronounced, "A Gundam."

At which point Wufei promptly choked, that bastard. By the time he managed to stop sputtering, eyes watering, he could feel his face twist with horror. "What?" he rasped.

"You see," he said, picking up a cookie, quite casually, "I had always wanted to be the Wizard in Oz. Did you have those books on L5? Probably not."

"Don't be an idiot," Wufei sniffed, and sipped from his cup. "It's been out of copyright for centuries. Even the colonies have access to entertainment datastreams. There are several caches of out of print novels and poetry." This felt surreal, sitting here with the man and speaking about... well, anything. But he seemed to recall the last experience with Khushrenada had also been confusing and a bit like he should keep watching the man just in case he suddenly became dangerous instead of leaving Wufei at a loss.

Mostly, he seemed intent to leave Wufei at a loss, though, because Wufei's response made him grin. "Good. Then I don't have to explain it. The parallels are all there. It pleased me. I was just a child when this all started, though. Thirteen and murdering for the Alliance, and _tired_. So you can understand why this isn't clearcut and simple."

Utterly mad. "Presumably you've also read Lewis Carroll." And that was all he had to say about that. Thirteen, though. That was... very young. Disturbingly young, and Wufei didn't want to feel conflicted about it. He wanted to keep being angry. "Now. Why are you building a Gundam?"

"To give to Heero Yuy. Or whatever his name is." He slouched slightly on the stool, one elbow casually resting on the table. "I told you, I want the colonies to win."

Mad as a hatter. He had no idea what to say or where to start. "You're building a Gundam," Wufei said slowly. "To give to... but _why_ do you want the colonies to win? What does winning even mean to you?" He promptly shoved a cookie in his mouth just to try and stop himself from going any further.

"Self governing colonies. Like countries, again." He sipped at his coffee, and seemed to sigh, to savour it. To perhaps rest for a moment while crazy thoughts ricocheted around in his brain. "You'll see."

"If I live that long." He managed a shrug, and now he was curious about... well. Many things. He supposed Khushrenada could be lying, of course, and he would definitely have to be checked. Everything would have to be investigated, but all he could do was scowl and look at him. "Show me your plans."

He turned slightly, to look at the giant bulk that was covered in tarps, and was smiling slyly to himself. "Perhaps you would rather see the cockpit."

Wufei didn't know exactly what that invitation meant. He wasn't sure where to start or how to reply, so he took another bite of his pastry, chewed it slowly, and finally nodded. "All right."

"Excellent!" He downed his coffee in one gulp and was to his feet smoothly, leading the way toward a ladder that was leaning against the covered behemoth in a way that made Wufei hope it was secured and yet he knew in the same breath that it wasn't.

With a sigh, Wufei got up and followed, scowling as he stood at the bottom of the ladder and watched Treize go up it. It was, he thought a little crankily, not exactly a hardship. "What's so different about it, anyway?"

"ZERO system. Have you used one yet?" Had he used one yet, like they were bicycles, like it was that easy, and the man continued up the ladder ahead of him, all easy grace and smooth movements that reminded Wufei of their duel.

"Are you completely insane?" If he sounded blank and uncertain, it wasn't for no good reason. "How did you even get your hands on it?"

"I built it. I had started to build it years ago, but I was distracted. When the Lightning Baron was executed for treason, I finished it. Really, having the cockpit already built has made all of this much easier," he commented, as if he had merely been baking a cake.

That wasn't what he meant. "Where did you get the plans?" That was what he had meant, because Quatre had obviously had the plans when he'd built the one he used to blow up _a colony_. Wufei was fairly sure that he had made a mistake coming for Khushrenada, because he felt a little like his head just kept swimming and maybe it was contagious.

"In an old family vault. Ancient tech, you know? All of this and worse has been done before, and if we're infected with nanites and I have to kill my best officer because she's got an evil parasite, well, fuck it, I say. Let's have enhanced decision making, too." He almost jauntily pulled down a tarp, and there was a massive dark maroon metal Mech, and an entry hatch that was bigger than Wufei was accustomed to.

He supposed it would have to be if Khushrenada was climbing into it, but he wasn't. He held out an arm in invitation, and Wufei bit the inside of his cheek in indecision, scowling. Finally, he moved past the man and climbed into the seat, eyes darting around, looking to see exactly how close it might be to his own.

"These were in spaceships once. Proper galaxy spanning ships," he said, peering into the space in a way that blocked the light until the system started to power itself up past the emergency lighting. "Think of that, if we could get past our petty fights and fly the stars again."

It sounded amazing. "We haven't even managed Mars yet." His voice was distracted as he began flipping switches, tapping on one of the displays. "This is remarkable."

"We have, though. We've done it before, and then it was lost because we're..." Treize was quiet for a moment, watching him. "Insufficient. Petty. I invited you to dinner because your nanites are going to connect to the system and you'll be exhausted afterward."

By the time his head turned back toward Treize in alarm, it was too late. One finger hit a screen, and Wufei thought it felt a bit like a sledgehammer to the head might.

There was so much.

So much, and he could feel himself draw in an unsteady breath, shaking. Himself in space, telling someone that they couldn't defeat him and they couldn't defeat Treize. Fighting Zechs, who clearly wasn't dead, just mostly dead.

His colony, exploding, and maybe he was screaming, maybe he wasn't making any sound at all, Wufei didn't know.

Treize, at every turn, from beginning to end, pressed against him and in him, part of him, and then there was electricity sparking, and he was sure now that he was screaming after all.

"Come on, focus. Focus!" He could hear that through the sparks and the haze inside of his head.

Focus. Focus. A loop in his head, demanding, overwhelming. What did he want? What did he need?

And then everything went clear and he opened his eyes, because what he wanted more than anything was justice. He wanted to set things right. He wanted to do the right thing.

He saw the great battle in space, and he saw another great Gundam, white, not maroon, and he knew Khushrenada was in it when he attacked it. He watched it all, watched the man die, heard words that made no sense, and felt nothing good at all from it but a deep discomfort. One more dead among so many, one more ruined battle suit in the wreckage.

It didn't feel anything like he'd thought it would. It felt terrible, and he felt the tears streaking down his face, hot and wet. And then that was gone, too, and he was gasping heavily, head leaning forward, entire body tilting, because fuck.

Fuck.

"Easy." Treize was leaning into him, half supporting him, and leaning into the cockpit's space, down on his knees. "There we go."

"You _bastard_." Gasped out, yes, and he was exhausted, aching down to his bones. He wondered vaguely if that was how his father had felt when everything had gotten so much worse. "What..."

"You see that it's the best way, don't you?" He was holding onto Wufei, not moving him yet, his hands warm as one curved against Wufei's back, fingers along his spine.

It had felt so horrifying, hurt so much, and he clenched his eyes shut tightly, swallowing hard. "No." No. Just.. no, and that was somehow even worse because it was what he'd been after all along. It was what he wanted.

Wasn't it?

Surely, surely it was exactly what he wanted, except... except not, except not like that, and it left him disoriented, that the madman supporting him or holding onto him had possibly seen the same thing and was _fine_ with it.

"Wasn't wrong," he mumbled, dazedly shaking his head from side to side, blinking. Everything felt soft and blurred and wrong. "You've lost your mind."

"I played every possible option, and it got worse. For the colonies, for Earth, it _keeps_ getting worse. This is the only way it gets better." Treize was solid, warm, calm. Fearless, maybe, or completely unhinged in that small space.

"I can't do that." Except he could. He knew he could, and he had planned to do it. It was the entire point of what he was doing, it was everything, and now that it was being handed to him as some kind of fait accompli, all Wufei could do was say no. Maybe he was the crazy one, all things considered. "It. It's not, it isn't..."

"It's not ideal," Treize admitted, pulling back. For all the grins and wry pulls of his mouth, he seemed deeply sad as he looked at Wufei. Or maybe it was the emergency lighting.

Wufei couldn't help scoffing. " _Not ideal_?" he asked, voice going sharp. "It was most certainly my ideal to begin with, and now..." Now everything felt off. Felt wrong, and he raised his head, still drunk from the system, only to find fingers tangling in his hair, tugging, tilting him, and then there was a mouth on his.

The fingers, the feel of the man's hand was rougher than he'd expected for someone so high ranked, and the kiss was oddly desperate, firm and perhaps a little hungry. It had been so long for Wufei, too long, and he was still reeling from everything he'd seen. Everything was a disaster, everything felt off, everything except this. If he felt frantic, so what? If he was afraid of what came next, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered were the hands on him, the feel of his mouth being invaded with the heady lap of slick warm tongue, the grip on his thigh.

Treize still smelled of metal, of solvents, but he was warm and skin after all that thought of metal, moving into that cramped space with Wufei and crushing him close. It was impossible to do more than shift, and the other man pulled back. "We should probably go back down the ladder."

Yeah. Yes. Okay, yes, they should do that, and Wufei lifted his hand to his mouth, drew in a shuddering breath, and looked at him. "We should." He didn't know what else they should do. All of this felt so... So strange.

Strange, but good.

Sensible, as if he were making the only correct decision as Treize backed out of the cockpit to the ladder, and started to make his way down, waiting for Wufei as if he needed steadying after what he'd seen. Maybe he did. Probably he did, in fact, because he wobbled a bit at the bottom, and that wasn't normal. That wasn't how things usually went at all, and there were too many things in his head right now. Things that needed wiping out, including the notion of just killing Treize Khushrenada as if it were nothing. Especially if this was going where he was sure it was going.

Once he was at the bottom, Treize kissed him again, standing, as if to reaffirm what he'd done in the cockpit, his hands low against Wufei's back, firm with interest, but not inescapable. Not so close that he couldn't get loose if he wanted to, not so tight that he bruised, and he knew that this was a moment. This was a choice, and fuck.

Fuck.

He was shaking, and he shouldn't be making choices right now. He should be marching himself out the door and figuring out what came next. Figuring out... he didn't even know. He didn't know, and he was pretty sure he didn't care.

Nothing made sense, and Treize pulled back, slowly, lingering close still. "Come inside with me."

As if it were that easy. As if anything could be, and Wufei could feel himself trembling, could feel himself _wanting_ , and he wasn't sure about anything at all. This man had sent soldiers to his colony, soldiers who had fought in his name, and yet here he was, exiled and alone and working on something insane in a hotel-cum-estate in a tiny ridiculous little country. This man was Treize Khushrenada, was his goal, was the embodiment of everything that had made him so angry for so long.

"Yes." He was all of those things, and maybe more, and Wufei felt dizzy with it, with lust and complicated fucked up emotions that were so multitudinous and overwhelming that he didn't even know what to do with them.

He walked instead, let himself be pulled out of the workshop and moved back outside, into the sunshine. Toward the smaller house, toward... he didn't know. Treize guided him, squinting against the sun, and once they were inside, he started to strip off the overalls. "I'm sorry, I can't seem to shake the smell of grease."

"It doesn't bother me." Wufei didn't bother trying to hide the fact that he was watching, just leaned against the closed front door, one shoulder pressed against the jamb as he allowed his eyes to linger on the limbs being revealed, the jut of a shoulder blade, the curve of a bicep, the line of Treize's waist. Everything still felt weird, off, and it was a bad time to make decisions, but no matter how many times the reasonable part of his brain repeated that, it wasn't going to matter. Not right now.

Maybe not for quite a while.

"It's been driving me a little nuts," the man said, as if making a confession, casual conversation as he stripped down to what ended up being an undershirt and boxers, toeing out of his workboots as if it were actually possible to get away from any of what they were doing. He was lean and fit, a handful of grey mixed into his hair and closed in on Wufei again to kiss him.

The sweep of his tongue felt weirdly familiar, and then Wufei had his hands in the man's hair, pulling him in and keeping him close. A thigh slid between his and he found himself crowded against the door, moaning when hands tugged him close, firm on his hips, and he let one hand slide down so that he could wrap an arm around the back of Treize's neck to hold him close, only letting loose to gasp and then lick into the warm cavern of his mouth.

"Christ, I want you." Treize broke the kiss just long enough to say that, then leaned back in to kiss at the junction of Wufei's jaw and ear.

Fuck. As if he planned to say no? No wasn't on the list, and he let his head fall back, shuddering at the feel of it, at the faint rasp of stubble, barely there. He was pretty sure he'd never made the sound that shuddered out of his throat before now, and he didn't care if he sounded needy, didn't care that everything was all fucked up, because this... this might be worth it. "Yes." Yes, yes, and yes. "Where's your bedroom?"

"Upstairs." Because of course it was, because it was a grand old house with a giant curving staircase and he had hands on him that felt perfect and Treize held to him for a moment, tight, and gently applied teeth at that junction in a way that made him shudder all over again.

"Fuck, fuck." Fuck, that was too far, that was oh. "We need..." Somewhere horizontal. Lube. Something. "Ngh." The thigh between his was pressing just right, and he felt amazing. "Upstairs. We, we have to..."

Treize pulled him away from the door, hand lingering on him, and then he tugged, leading him toward the stairwell and then up them. Wufei had too many clothes on and Treize seemed to have no self-awareness that he was nearly naked as he pulled Wufei down a hallway toward and through a door into a darkened room. There were curtains blocking out a fair bit of light, but not so much that he couldn't see the wide bed with the bench at the end of it or the chairs scattered in a small seating arrangement. He didn't give much of a fuck about any of that, though, because he was already pulling off his own shirt, and Treize had his hands at the button on his trousers. He'd gone to such care to look like a normal tourist, not to seem suspicious, and now it would all end up on some ancient rug. It didn't matter because there was a warm calloused hand sliding hot over the skin of his bare hip, shoving them down, and all he wanted was to be as close as possible to this man he'd hated and planned to kill and now he'd clearly lost his mind and it was _so fucking good_. His hand fisted in Treize's t-shirt, tugging at it, and they got tangled in it for a moment before it came free and they were on one another again, and stumbling their way toward the wide bed.

Treize put a knee on the mattress, and then pulled him onto the bed with him and began kissing him again. It was better than against the door because it was skin on skin, the flex of muscle against his as Treize squirmed out of his own underwear.

"Yes," Wufei hissed, and it felt as if there were hands everywhere, as if he needed an extra pair of his own just to touch all of the places he wanted. His mouth was on Treize's, kissing him, heady and sweet with a bitter undertone from the coffee they'd been drinking, and then he moved away, nipping lightly at the point of his chin before sliding down, blazing a trail with his lips and tongue and teeth.

"Oh god." The other man sounded stunned, breathless, his fingers against Wufei's shoulders, one sliding to stroke his side as he half sat up, but not enough for Wufei to move.

"I want to suck you." Baldly stated, but there was no point in being anything other than ragingly honest, and he found that he did. Want that. Wanted a lot of things right at the moment, wanted some of the things he'd seen, wanted nothing but this, all of this, and he'd think about the rest later.

"By all means!" He sounded astonished, sliding fingers over Wufei's shoulder blade, a lingering touch, and Wufei didn't bother waiting or anything else, just slid down and pushed open the man's thighs to settle between them.

Maybe he should have given some serious thought to what he'd find there, because Wufei wasn't sure he'd ever seen a cock that size outside of serious sketchy datastreams. Mu Tsu hadn't been anything close to it, but Wufei was nothing if not determined. His fingers clasped the shaft and pumped it slowly, watching it harden just a little bit more, the tip of it soft and faintly glistening as he leaned in and wrapped his lips around it.

"Ohh." Treize sighed, fingers sliding up to toy with the nape of his neck, a light touch, like he didn't dare guide or press. Probably had too many people choke on it, at a guess, and that thought was ridiculously hot, enough that Wufei opened his mouth wider and slid more of it into his mouth, tongue squirming against the underside as he sucked slow and easy, humming around the girth of it. He'd been in the shop so he probably ought to have tasted less clean, but it was mostly just musky and salty and hot, like he'd been working hard but washed a great deal to make up for it. "Uhhh, Christ..." He spread his legs in lieu of thrusting, maybe, and that was a good reaction. That felt amazing to hear, and so he kept his fingers where they were and started stroking behind his mouth, and god, it felt good, the weight of it, the velvety skin, and he couldn't help moaning around him because it felt heady, like power and control and a loss of both all at the same time.

His dick was hard between his legs, pressing against the satin sheets, and he hoped he left stains because who the hell had satin sheets? The restrained reactions, the shake of fingers stroking the back of his neck, the surprised noises Treize was making made him want that more than what he'd seen in ZERO. Made him want to have the good parts, at least, if the bad parts were coming, and he pulled off with a faint pop of suction, allowing the head of Treize's dick to rest against his lips as he looked up at him, wanting to _see_ what he was doing to him, and it was worth it. Treize looked undone rather than confident and jaunty, flushed up his chest and across his face, and his nipples had perked up. He groaned again, and his dick jumped a little against Wufei's lips, a faint twitch in reaction to what _he_ was seeing.

Eyes on him, Wufei let his tongue slide out and lap over him, his own breath coming a little faster. "Tell me what you want."

"I want to fuck you so hard." His dick pulsed, throbbed with the blood flow or the excitement. "And I want to taste you." His hands seemed to goad Wufei to come back up again.

It was enough of an invitation, and so Wufei pushed himself up on his hands and crawled over him, sliding up until they were chest to chest. "So take what you want."

He felt Treize shift a leg, drawing it up so his knee slid between Wufei's, and then he used it as leverage, twisting and pinning Wufei beneath him. "Delighted to."

Maybe it should have felt dangerous; this was an enemy, a man a good decade older than him, but instead it felt strangely protected. He huffed something that wasn't quite a laugh and bucked up under him just a little, pressing close. "Do your worst." Which would hopefully be his best.

His eyes narrowed, and crinkled at the edges as he leaned back down to kiss Wufei as if in a promise, one hand sliding over Wufei's belly, driving to the edge of his left hip before sliding to tease at the base of his dick.

God, that was good. The kissing and the hand on him, and he moaned, low and throaty, opening his mouth a bit more before pulling loose and tipping his head back because he'd enjoyed that mouth on his neck earlier. "Mmmm, yes."

It was an easily taken suggestion, and Treize chuckled against his skin, applied a gentle pressure of teeth at that sensitive junction, while his fingers slipped down to play with Wufei's balls. He couldn't help rocking his hips or the way that he gave a nearly breathless gasp, thighs pushing open wider to let him touch, anywhere, any way that he wanted. Now wasn't the time to think or plot or do anything at all other than enjoy the way those hands were touching him, the mouth on his skin, the rasp of stubble and the soothing lap of tongue that followed it. The way the man was slowly making his way down Wufei's body felt incredible, lingering at the spot where his neck dipped into his collarbone, before kissing down to his left nipple. It perked at the attention, and Wufei felt the hand on his balls slide back and caress just behind them. "Oh. Oh, yes, please."

Please because it felt good to say it. Yes because it clearly communicated that he wanted it.

Oh because his brain was short-circuiting a bit. In a good way, not the other way that worried him, and the finger disappeared for a moment before Treize slid it into his own mouth wetly before teasing against Wufei's hole again. "I sadly have to get up. Can't do this without lube."

Fuck. "Yeah. Condoms, too." There was no point in being stupid, no matter how hot this was. 

"Oh, condoms I have." There was a laughing tone of voice that implied there was a story there, a story Wufei would probably never ask about because Treize was kissing at his other nipple and then getting up.

The getting up was awful because he didn't want to lose the touch of that skin, but getting to watch his ass as he strolled to the dresser and pulled open the top drawer was definitely worth it. Wufei settled one hand on his cock and gave it a slow stroke, humming low in his throat. That was good. Not as good as before, but still. He had a nice ass; not quite the ass he expected a general to have, no, it was lean and pert, nicely dimpled, and he struggled to imagine the man exercising. Jogging? Sword fighting, obviously, and maybe it was all functional if he was building a fucking Gundam, and then he was coming back to the bed. "Took you long enough." Maybe even a whole minute, but he couldn't keep his mouth from quirking up in amusement all the same.

"Mmm, I didn't want to have to make the trip twice," he declared, sliding his prizes, a tube of lube and a handful of condoms, onto the bed before he leaned back over Wufei for another kiss, all soft lips and sweet tongue, and Wufei lifted himself up on an elbow and let him in, his other hand reaching up to pull him down, close to him again.

"Or maybe even three times?" he breathed as Treize settled back into the bed.

"Maybe." The hand smoothed over his side and curled to his backside, brushing one buttock in a luxurious slow way before Treize nudged him to turn onto his stomach.

He went easily enough, folding both arms and placing his head on them so that he could watch. His lashes lowered, just enough that he could still see Treize through them. "Well?"

"I want to taste you," he said quite simply, pressing a kiss against the line of Wufei's spine, fingers sliding against the sides of his asscheeks.

Something went hot and loose in his belly, a raging flood of desire, and he flexed his hips against the ridiculous satin sheets. "No one is stopping you."

"Good." He kissed again, working his way down slowly, lingering in the curve of Wufei's spine with his mouth before slowly tonguing down his cleft. He couldn't stop himself from panting or from gasping when he felt himself pried further open. Thank god he'd showered and cleaned himself up before checking in to the hotel. This hadn't been on the list of possibilities for the afternoon, but he definitely didn't regret that, especially if things went on just like this.

The touch of tongue against his asshole was damp and firm and hot, and Treize's hands were solid and half holding him still as he probed. After half a moment it was back to a more teasing lick.

Fuuuck. Fuck, and there was no point in looking back at him because it was better to bury his face in the pillow and just pant, hips rocking back in invitation. He was pretty sure he was cursing into it, too, for that matter, even as he felt a finger push into him, saliva slick and aching, and he pushed back hard for it, unsurprised when that tongue started working around it. The man knew how to eat ass, and how to do it with a relish, humming somewhere in the back of his throat as he backed up and repeated the motion more lightly and in the opposite direction, while his finger eased in and out.

Wufei was going to come apart under him; he was sure of it, and for a moment he had the vague sense to wonder exactly how many people this complete lunatic had fucked to make him so unwaveringly talented. He didn't need a number, but gave a silent _thank you_ to all of them before a second finger slid into him, forcing a ragged gasping sort of moan from him. It was the perfect amount of almost too much, of nearly more sensation than he could take, but not quite too much, and Treize shifted on the bed and was sucking behind his balls. His back arched so sharply that he thought he heard it crack, and his right leg shifted, smacking against Treize's hip and nearly toppling both of them. "Fuck!"

Everything happened in a quick moment. It made Treize jerk away, fingers sliding free before he seemed to catch his own protective recoil and started to chuckle quietly, his other hand smoothing down the back of Wufei's thigh to steady himself. "Damn, sorry, did that tickle?"

The entire thing felt ridiculous, which honestly just made it better. "Mmm, a little. Maybe it was just a little too good."

The other man leaned back in to kiss his left asscheek, teasingly, fingers still rubbing at the back of Wufei's thigh, as if to smooth away the urge to kick. He was still chuckling. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"Definitely the best way to take it." He looked back at him, tongue darting out to lick his lips. "I was just thinking I should thank everyone you've ever slept with." 

"I've been lucky in that respect," he remarked, kissing the other asscheek and then reaching up to grab the tube of lube. "And open to instruction."

"Clearly." More than clearly, actually. Someone had obviously trained him appropriately from the start, and perhaps that was a strange thought. Wufei had always been... well. Picky, his mother had said. He hadn't known how to explain that it wasn't being picky, it was that he didn't feel that way about people very often. He'd never met someone and thought, _I want to climb that one._ He usually didn't feel that way until he knew someone well enough to tell that he liked them. "I can't argue with that being a good thing since I expect it will benefit me."

"Tell me if it doesn't," he said quite openly. His tone was relaxed, interested, excited, and he was slipping two slick fingers between Wufei's asscheeks again, and Wufei laid his face on a hand and watched him. His eyes only closed when they slid into him, and his mouth opened, drawing in a slow, shaky breath, his entire body shivering with the pleasure of it. Oh that was good. The lingering of the other hand against his skin was nice, too, and if he peeked again over his shoulder he could see Treize was hard as he knelt there, patient and focused and then leaning down again to kiss his spine as he eased his fingers back.

His brain still felt wobbly and a little off, and maybe this was a bad idea, but it felt like a very good one at the moment. Wufei rocked his hips back to that hand, cock rubbing a damp patch beneath him. "Mmmmmm." The finger fucking was lazy and urgent at the same time, slow and determined in a steady way as he settled between Wufei's legs. "Fuck, that's amazing." Enough that he slid a hand beneath him and wrapped his fingers around his cock, whether to stroke it or just try to hold it and keep from coming, even he wasn't sure.

Treize took it as a sign to bump him gently up onto his knees, easing his fingers out. "What comes after amazing?"

"Orgasms, I hope." There was no point in trying to hide the smile that crept over his face, or the way that he looked at him over his shoulder.

"I expect to hear about it if I don't deliver on that." His grin in response was easy, the thumb tracing the edge of his asshole slick and firmly pressing for just a moment before he leaned to snag a condom.

Wufei let out a breath and widened the stance of his knees, a foot folding to the side and rubbing against Treize’s knee. "Don't think I won't tell you about it if you don't."

He didn't watch the man slick up his impressive dick or put the condom on, though he saw him toss the wrapper roughly in the direction of a trash bin. Then it was deft fingers on him again, adding a bit more lube before one hand settled on his hip as if to steady him.

The breath that pulled into his lungs was cool and shuddery, anticipatory. The steady stroke of slick skin, the feel of hands on him, made him shift slightly, brace and start to push back against the head of that cock. He'd definitely lost his mind, but god, that was huge, and his mouth was open in warm panting gasps when he felt it, felt the heady sting and stretch of being pushed into, and god, that was a lot. That was a lot, but Treize was pushing in slowly, stopping once the flare of the head was in. Maybe, Wufei thought, that was why he'd stopped, thick and stretching him in every damn direction.

There was no helping the way that he shuddered, or the moan that he didn't bother trying to muffle in the pillow. It had been a while, and he could feel the steady clench and spasm as he tried to relax and adjust to it. "Fuck." His voice was slurred, blurry at the edges.

He heard Treize groan, a low satisfied noise, and then the man squirmed his hips slowly from side to side for a moment, giving him time. The fingers of one hand traced against his side, stroking him. "Sorry."

Wufei managed to draw in a breath and let it out in a shuddery sound, and then did it again. "You kidding?" There was no way to keep the laugh in his throat even if it made him shift, and fuck, okay. It was going to take another minute. "I am pretty sure most people dream about having someone with a cock like yours."

"I know it's not always comfortable." Fingers stroked to his belly, and then down to his dick, curling gently around it. "You feel so good."

Ohh, that was good. That was helpful, and Wufei rocked forward just a little at the touch of his hand. He could feel the tug of Treize where he was in him, and he clenched down again, but this time he pushed back just a little. Just enough, and he breathed out when he felt him slide deeper, a shudder rippling down his spine. "Nngh."

"Hmnh." Treize leaned a little. It moved him fractionally, and then his other hand was sliding over Wufei's chest, pulling him to come up kneeling. To lean back against Treize's chest, and it at least changed the angle a little. Maybe better, he wasn't quite sure. Yes, maybe that was better. It was deeper, he thought, and the sound that broke from him was one he didn't think he'd ever made before. Even with the ache of it, it was good, and he felt the muscles in his thighs bunch as he leaned back, got him in deeper, made that sound again.

"Oh god." Treize flexed his own thighs, shifted, rocked against Wufei, and it was a perfect small motion that rippled through him, made his balls ache.

"Yes." Yes, and he kept rocking, slow and steady, until their hips met. Finally, and there was no stopping the breathless little laugh he let out when it happened.

"Oh." Treize pressed his splayed fingers against Wufei's chest, and just rocked faintly as if it were the only motion he could manage. That wasn't a problem. Not for Wufei, anyway, because he squirmed, slow and steady, pulling away and then pushing back, before reaching over his shoulders and wrapping both arms behind Treize's neck. He clasped his fingers tightly and used the leverage to allow himself to roll his hips a little more effectively, riding him, even if not entirely the way he wanted.

He felt the man's shoulders flex, the brush of hair against his forearms, and there was a slow firm thrust as a counterpoint to his movements. "So damn good..."

Wufei could feel his breath picking up, and the girth of him felt better now, sliding easily, slick and deep. "God. Yes. Yes, I want to ride you later. I want to..."

He chuckled, and gave another slow slipping thrust back and then in again, and they were rocking weird counterpoint as Treize held him steady and he just needed a hand on his dick. That was all he needed, and he wanted to say it, wanted to tell him to _touch him_ , for fuck's sake, but then they shifted and the angle was perfect. Perfect, and he gasped in sharply and tried to hold it, tried to rub just right, and didn't quite manage it.

"Fuck!"

Treize shifted and thrust again but it wasn't quite there and he huffed a laugh and clutched tight to Wufei for a moment. "Dammit. New position? It's close, but..."

"New position." So maybe he'd get what he wanted after all. "Not that this one isn't good." Good enough that he felt high off of it, or maybe that was just weird leftovers from the ZERO system. Maybe all of this was. That was something he could worry about later.

Nothing was keeping him there other than his own interests, so it wasn't even really a worry. Treize shifted, eased out very slowly, and let Wufei lie on the bed as he laid down himself, stretching out his legs. "Hadn't tried that one in about a decade, and it shows."

He felt empty, a little raw, and he rolled over, straddling Treize's waist and looking down at him. "Maybe we'll try it again later."

This, though. This was how he wanted it, felt compelled to have, and he leaned in, licked his way into Treize's mouth. He kissed back, deepening Wufei's contact with a motion of tongue, while he reached between them to stroke Wufei's dick.

Perfect.

God, that was perfect, and when he pulled back, he was breathing shakily again. "I'm going to ride you," he told him, "until you give it up for me. Until you come so hard you think I've ruined you for life."

"Is that a threat?" He smirked, fishing for another condom to put on, ripping at the edge of the foil packet.

Leaning down, he sucked lightly at the cord of Treize's neck, worked his way up to his ear, and whispered, "That's a promise." 

He could tell when he hit a sensitive spot, because he could feel the other man's involuntary shivers, the little twitches and responses that could not be held down even by the most iron wills. Treize huffed a laugh. "You're making it hard to put the condom on."

"Well. I guess I can't go making anything hard." His tongue curled lightly around an earlobe, and he rocked down against him, cock rubbing across Treize's belly. "That would be so terrible."

"Uhhnh." The other man's leg squirmed, an uncontrollable movement, and Wufei felt his dick bob gently against him, one excited pulse while his hands clutched at Wufei's waist while still holding the condom wrapper. "Fuck, you're a beautiful tease."

It had been a long time since anyone had told him that. It had been a long time, period. "Think you can manage the condom anyway?" Because he very much wanted him to manage it.

"Oh yes." He tipped his head a little and just shivered once, before he got his hands into motion again, and started opening the packet behind Wufei's back. That was sufficient for him to go back to what he was doing, teasing open mouthed kisses along his neck, down to his collar bones, up to the point of his chin because being a distracting shit was actually quite enjoyable.

He felt the shift of Treize's hips as he finally got the condom aligned and tried to roll it down. The gasps, sighs, and motions were perfect, the flutter of hands trying to touch and trying to do something useful at the same time. Wufei knew the condom was in place when Treize grasped his hips tight, pinning them against each other, and shifted to kiss him fiercely.

Leaning up, Wufei looked down at him, hands on his chest. "Ready?"

"Ready."

With that, he reached back and grasped Treize's cock, looking behind him as he tried to snub it into place. He wasn't surprised to find that Treize's hand had reached around to help, and he sank back, looking up at the ceiling. The first time slipped a bit, missed, didn't quite go where it should, and he drew in a deep breath, let out a sigh, and tried again. This time it did, and his mouth fell open as he began to sink down, brows knitting, a sound somewhere between a whine and a moan creeping from his throat. God, that was big, so much of it, and he didn't take it all at first, just paused and held himself for a moment.

He had all the control and that was wonderful; he also had a lovely view in front of him, Treize looking a little stunned and pleased as his dick stayed still, wedged just into Wufei. His thighs burned a little as he slowly pushed down, then back up just enough that his cock didn't come out of him, then down again, just a bit further. His hands went back to support himself on Treize's thighs, and the further down he went, the more he wanted, the more he knew he wasn't going to think about anything outside of this bed for a while. Hours. Days, maybe.

"Fuuuck."

Treize leaned up a little, one hand on Wufei's hip, and the other moving to stroke his dick in an idle way. It was more than enough, and he was panting just a little by the time he managed to sit fully. Wufei was fairly certain that he'd never had anyone in him that deep, that thick, and he rolled his hips, not bothering to arch up or let him withdraw. Just rolled them, again, and again, and it was beginning to be insufficient, but not just yet.

Not just yet, not when that felt so good just as it was.

He wanted to work up to it, to get ready for full thrusting. Treize smeared slick precome from the head of Wufei's dick, and brought his hand to his mouth for a taste, holding Wufei's gaze.

"Fuck," he said again, voice raw, and he lifted, sank back down, did it again. "Fuck, that's..." Beautiful to see, hot as hell, and there was no way he could stop steadily fucking himself that way, because that made it even better. It made it perfect, and he had two perfect sensations, the dick in his ass as Treize finally started to almost gently bump his hips up to meet Wufei's riding, and the hand on his dick. Somewhere in there, he started to breathe shakily, and he knew he was getting close, knew he was going to come, and wasn't all that surprised when one hand came to his hip, holding him steady as he began to fuck onto him faster, thighs and hips aching slightly with the motion, with the force.

So damn close, and the hand stroking his dick was firmer, steady, driving as much as Treize was thrusting up to meet Wufei's down. "So close, come on..." That was all it took, a nudge in just the right spot, the hand stroking him, the encouragement. The orgasm hit him hard, vision sparking white firebursts behind his eyes as his entire body clenched with the force of it. Treize kept thrusting, pushing it on, and he could barely stand it, feeling and seeing more colors until the other man shuddered and clutched tight at Wufei with slick fingers. "Fuck!"

Fuck indeed. He felt like his bones had turned to water, and somehow he managed to shift, slump forward instead of back, head tucked under Treize's chin as he worked to catch his breath.

Treize gave another shiver, and held tight to Wufei for a moment, feeling as exhausted in touch as Wufei felt. Holy shit. It was a wonder the man got any work done with a dick like that.

"Someone should cast your cock in silicon for posterity," he mumbled against the man's throat. "Fuck."

"I've seen strange military memorabilia, but..." Treize exhaled firmly, and splayed his hands across Wufei's back.

"It'll go in the museum next to whatever you're building," Wufei said, and his mouth opened in a wide yawn despite himself. He was tired, and his ass was aching, which would be laughable, he supposed, if Treize weren't still in him along with an appalling amount of lube. That had definitely been for the best, though.

"Hmn. I've been in a lot of museums, but I'm unsure how one could juxtapose a Gundam and a dildo." He shifted slightly, and then moved a hand down and there was the ache of Treize easing out. 

Wufei gave a hiss of breath against his throat, and a little sound of discomfort. "I'm sure they'd manage it." He didn't want to move, not at all, but he somehow managed to shift to the side and curl up beside him. It was comfortable, and he was too fucked out to be as uncomfortable as he should have been with what was an insane situation. Nothing made any more sense, but it seemed... peaceable.

Seemed like he'd be safe enough if he wanted to sleep, because he was pretty sure Treize was fucked out, too. "I'm guessing you wouldn't mind my company for a little while longer. Like a nap."

"I haven't been sleeping, if you can imagine." No, no nothing in that workshop spoke anything other than some kind of mania. "A nap would be lovely."

And if Wufei reached out, snagged him, and pulled him in close, well.

That was his own business, wasn't it?

* * *

It wasn't at all how he'd expected to spend his house arrest, any of it. Overthrown from leadership under the pretense of stepping down, hah -- how did stepping down of one's own free will translate to house arrest? It was because he was 'family' that he'd only been 'chipped' with a subcutaneous bomb, and told very firmly that it would detonate if he crossed over his property boundary. 

He was rather fond of his hips and having them remain attached to his spine, particularly now.

"Hand me that spanner."

Somehow, he'd ended up with a companion, which was probably quite insane, but it had all started with exposing Wufei to ZERO, and perhaps ZERO had decided that Treize needed someone. It wasn't wrong; he'd perhaps spent far too much time awake and even more time working in his shop.

The work was going much better now even as he dutifully handed over the spanner and returned to his soldering work. The workshop wasn't ideal; the first Gundams had been built in sterility, but they had also crumbled when dirt was introduced into their systems, and what were soldiers without dirt?

"How's it coming?" Wufei seemed to be done with whatever it was, or perhaps he was just taking a break. They'd been at it for a while, and Claude would undoubtedly bring tea within the hour.

"I have most of the circuit boards for the heat rod built." The challenging part would be the flight tests; there was no real way to test them himself, given his situation, and the people on the estate would find it alarming.

Dropping down beside him, Wufei reached up and rubbed at his forehead, leaving behind a streak of grease. "I think I've got the hydraulics settled. At least enough for us to maybe test how the arms are working."

"They should be working fine, but yes. We do need to at least do limited testing..." One of them would need to get into the cockpit, but he didn't mind the interfacing anymore. Not after the first few times, as it had either burned him out or he was grimly aligned to his options.

Wufei had seemed to become accustomed, as well. They didn't talk about the world outside, the war that was heating up. They didn't talk about the fact that Zechs's sister had declared herself the ruler of Sanc Kingdom, that she'd opened up the borders to accept anyone who wanted to escape the growing conflict. They mostly just worked and ate and fucked. There was a rhythm and a purpose to it, so he climbed up the side of the Gundam, up to the cockpit using the handholds Wufei had built into the side. None of it was easy work, from the fabricating, the welding, the tiny careful basic work that came with building a Gundam from scratch, nuclear materials, and gundanium. They just... worked.

And not just as they worked on his design. They seemed to work well together in all of the ways, and perhaps that should be more disturbing than it was. It wasn't. It was just enjoyable, and it made Treize wish that they lived in a different world, an easier one. Instead, they were in a world where Wufei was a hunted enemy combatant and a known terrorist, while he was a deposed warlord climbing the outside of a killing machine with the threat of a well-placed explosive charge keeping him under house arrest.

And that was without the things that ZERO whispered to him when he did sleep.

"Check the pump, it was misbehaving a little. The pressure gauge had some weird readings." Wufei was right behind him, leaning in to look at it as well.

He settled into the cockpit, shoulder resting against the back, and he took a breath before he engaged the system. Or before it engaged him, he couldn't tell anymore. The one thing he was sure of was that if Wufei didn't have to kill him, the two of them could've opened quite the workshop together. "Weight of the whip seems to have thrown the system off."

"Hn." That sound of displeasure was undeniable. "We may have to reconsider the hydraulic system entirely if you want to use it ambidextrously."

"Sword arm doesn't have that problem." He sifted through the data that was available, and ZERO was providing it smoothly, nothing obtrusive, just knowledge, the sense of how the machine was faring as they built it. "If we increase the ratio, it will make the non-wielding arm over responsive and jerky if we maintain ambidexterity. I think we'll have to stick to handedness."

"So just the left one, then. I'll have to work on the redesign tonight." He was scowling, and he rubbed at his forehead again, the smear of grease spreading a little. ZERO tended to give him a headache after too much interaction although there seemed to be some delay as to how long it took.

"We both will. It's faster together," Treize commented, running a few more simulations in the system, letting ZERO drift where it was interested in its shell. He also needed to work on the right knee, it wasn't quite fabricated as well as the left, damn, and there was a suggestion... a suggestion of space. Of vastness and stars, and floating. 

Yes. Soon.

That scowl shifted, changed, and he knew what that quirk of brow meant now. It meant that Wufei was uncomfortable, unhappy. They'd spent a couple of weeks together, twenty-four hours at a time. Claude had brought the luggage from Wufei's room, although there wasn't a great deal in it, and he had stayed. They weren't talking about a number of things, but it was probably for the best. "Yes. It is that."

"It makes you uncomfortable. I understand." He leaned forward minutely in the space to disconnect himself from ZERO, from the feedback of the Gundam itself.

"We're fucking, of course it makes me uncomfortable." Which was as good a point as anyone could make, Treize thought. "I have made questionable decisions. My father would be disappointed." The way he referred to him made it unclear as to whether he was dead or alive, but then... if the man weren't dead already then he would undoubtedly be dead in short order, considering what the nanites released at Wufei's colony had been programmed to do.

"My mother would be overjoyed. She was quite... mad before she was shot, though." He quirked a smile at Wufei because he knew it would throw the man off guard, a shift of subject so strange that it would knock out the melancholy. "And my father was a Yuy, so I don't suppose he would have minded, either."

Ah, yes. That face quite clearly informed him that he had chosen appropriately. Or at least he had chosen well for shifting gears; he wasn't sure he had chosen well for allowing Wufei to believe he was anything other than utterly mad. "Your mother was shot. And your father was a Yuy. So many things are now explained to me."

And maybe he was. The assassination of his brother accidentally catching her as well had been... relief was the wrong word, but peace, after years of concern. One more horror to throw on the pyre along with the rest, and none of them could be properly addressed because if he did... if he did, he was afraid he'd understand why his mother had lost her damned mind. He smiled, and patted Wufei's shoulder. "Now you sound like my grandfather at her funeral. Come, let's have coffee."

That sigh was low and steady. "Fine. Fine, but I don't think I want any further explanation. I thought that ZERO was the only reason you're..." Off. Quite off. "I don't know." Didn't know, and it was probably for the best. It was obvious that Wufei's emotional state leaned toward too serious, and quite frequently outright melancholic, and equally obvious that he was finding things... Difficult. Who wouldn't?

"Honestly, the more information I add the worse it gets." He lingered comfortably and let Wufei go down the foot and handholds first before he started down them. Coffee would be an excellent time to bring up the tracking device as well since he was already off balance.

"Then don't add any more," Wufei called up, and went to the door when there was a knock. Claude was quite religiously well-timed, there was no other way to put it. "Good afternoon, Claude."

Blandly, Claude entered with a tray. "Sir, you have grease upon your forehead."

He stopped most of the way down, leaning out a little and holding on with one hand. It was a shame he couldn't keep to his workshop forever; there was so much more he could make in the world, and there was a deep peace that settled in his chest as he looked at the work he could make with his own hands and mind. The world was still much the world of his own hands and mind, but it wasn't as satisfying.

It wasn't going well.

"Yes, I am aware." Never mind that he probably wasn't. "Thank you for tea."

"You're most welcome, sir." Honestly, that was half the fun of Claude coming into the shop these days. He rarely sent anyone else on staff. Treize thought he had far too much fun throwing Wufei off balance. He'd always been a good man, taken good care of the estate and him as well. Galahad had decided that he adored the man, and that was for the best. Treize would have to leave his family something appropriate in the will.

He eased himself the rest of the way down, and shook his arms out, coming up behind Wufei. "Ah, thank you, Claude. This is a much needed break."

"Of course, sir. Will you be needing anything else?"

Perhaps now was not the most appropriate time to mention that they were running out of lube. He'd catch the man alone before dinner and place the request then. "No, we're quite well taken care of. Thank you."

Claude nodded, and turned to go, leaving only Wufei and Treize. Wufei's dark eyes were narrowed, and the second that the door clicked shut, he turned to scowl at Treize. "Honestly, I know he's considering precisely what we do when we aren't in the shop. Every time he comes in."

"Perhaps, but it's the nature of staff to gossip about their employers. I wouldn't dare impinge on his amusement, not as long as his wife continues to bake so well. She's taught the chef a few things." He quirked an eyebrow, and turned to find his teapot.

"Oh, the raspberry tarts?" Wufei was inordinately fond of those. "And the opera framboise?" Reaching forward, he chose one of the latter and delved into it with one of the forks from the tray before popping a bite into his mouth and humming. "I think he married well, then."

"Quite." He quirked an eyebrow at Wufei, and poured two cups of tea. Coffee in the morning, and tea for afternoons, as if it might actually keep them awake. He was fairly sure he could inject it straight into his veins, and his little friends would tidy it away.

Then again, so would Wufei's.

One of the things he quietly had not mentioned was that he was tinkering with some of the base code for Wufei's nanites, making them... well, he supposed more compatible with his own was the best way to phrase it. As much as they were fucking, there was no doubt that there would be crossover, and he wanted to be sure that none of it was harmful, not for either of them. He honestly wasn't particularly worried about his own, but one of them was going to live through this. He might as well be certain that Wufei would go forward with the best chance he could give him.

"Mmmm, and the croissants at breakfast." If Wufei looked a bit dreamy at that, it was no wonder. They did get rather delightful breakfasts, and after a full night of rather athletic sex, they usually woke hungry. If a man were going to die, he might as well enjoy the things he could rather than mope about like an ass. And fresh baked goods were really a luxury beyond compare, though they hadn't been scarce in the last five years; not since crop stabilization after the...

His head hurt sometimes, and he offered Wufei his cup with a slightly unsteady hand. "How do you feel about amateur surgery?"

The arch of that black brow was sharp, somewhere between worried and horrified. "I suppose it depends on the skill of the amateur. And the extent of the surgery." Wufei took the cup and raised it, watching as Treize poured his own. "I think perhaps you should lower your caffeine intake. Unless you're implying that you need amateur surgery, in which case, I should advise you that I am entirely unqualified."

"But not entirely unskilled with sharp instruments. I've been contemplating my situation here." When he had conversations in places outside of his head, he was occasionally aware that he skipped great logical swathes, and it was a delight to watch Wufei scowl at him and skip the same swaths.

If the world weren't such a complete disaster, he would be plotting to keep him. "Are you honestly thinking what I think you're thinking?"

He took a sip of his own tea and pulled out a workbench stool to perch on. "Very likely, yes. I have rubbing alcohol and a bagged sterilized scalpel and clamps. You have no idea how hard a scalpel was to acquire."

"You're utterly mad if you think I'm willing to do that," Wufei responded promptly, scowling. Ah, Treize probably shouldn't enjoy that look nearly as much as he did. "We would need scanners and I'd need a hell of a lot more than the supplies you've scrounged. Are you insane?"

"It's just in my back, quite close to the skin, I think. That's all right, I can probably get to it with a mirror." He reached for a pastry, and took his time savoring a bite. "It's just the explosive charge I'm concerned about."

"You're an ass." Well. Yes. Yes, he was, sometimes. "I'd be letting you free to roam about and do whatever you bloody well like, and you're trouble waiting to happen on even a good day."

"What do you think I'll do if I leave my lovely cage?" He liked the dynamic implications; when Wufei had come to him before, where the power laid was obvious. Now it wasn't in his hands, but Wufei's.

"With you, who can tell?" Ah, but that sour little twist of his mouth was such a delight. "Fine, you utter wanker. But I'll need to borrow a vehicle and go out to buy some things." Or more likely steal them, Treize thought.

"I'll carry on with the calibrations. Claude will give you keys to the Defender. I suppose you'd prefer it to the horses." He threw Wufei another look where he wouldn't know if he was joking or not.

That snort said everything that needed saying. "Well. If I somehow manage to kill you, it'll be no less than what you deserve, honestly, letting someone unqualified try and cut a bomb out of you. Tell me you at least have some idea of the specifications."

"I do not. My family is well aware of what I'm capable of, unfortunately." It did make him wonder why they'd left him alive after deposing him, but people made poor decisions every day based on emotions.

That was definitely the face that he recognized as an oncoming migraine. "I swear to god. Do you think we had horses on colony? Really? Of course you don't, you smartass. Tomorrow, then."

He laughed, leaning on the table, letting himself relax as Wufei pulled out his stool. "I don't know how the damn things continue to survive here, never mind what the gravity changes would do. My cousin Dorothy was obsessed with them as a child, though she'll deny it to her grave." And just like that, he guided the topic away from too-serious again.

A snort answered him. "They are certainly not as healthy as the adage would imply." And clearly they weren't going to talk about it any further.

They drank their tea in companionable silence, though as they were tidying up, Treize balanced a small biscuit on Wufei's head because he hadn't done anything to earn him a really well meant curse all morning.

"You fucker." Even that one was half-hearted. "I'm abandoning you. I need to do research on something other than this."

He knew he'd come back, and stepping back into the reality of even the main part of the estate would be interesting after their cloistered time together. "I'll have the hydraulics improved by the time you return. You won't even feel the arms hitch."

Reaching out, Wufei snagged one of the raspberry tarts, then reached with his other hand to lift the biscuit from his head, popping it into his mouth. "Promises, promises. I have no idea why I'm even doing this." Except surely he did.

"Because you think it will lead to a better outcome than if I become the hermit with the workshop." Though if he stayed the hermit with the workshop, he would certainly live. Until the Earth was destroyed. If Wufei didn't understand that was how everything ended, then he had severely overestimated his intelligence. 

Treize was certain that he hadn't.

"I think," Wufei murmured, looking down into his teacup, "that I don't truly understand many things. And I also think that I would rather not have you trying to dig explosives out of yourself, because I doubt that would have any sort of happy ending. And I'm a bit too close to chance it."

"To self preservation, then." He lifted the empty cup in a mock toast.

"To self preservation."

And that was that.

* * *

There were two things Wufei had learned.

First, he hated the Defender. The damned thing felt huge when he'd driven it into the capital, and he'd hated every second of it. The traffic was annoying, and trying to work around the blind spots in the damned thing was worse. 

Getting into the hospital was easy enough. He'd sufficiently bribed someone and gotten what he needed out of it, and also made several stops at bookstores and a number of libraries.

Second, damn Khushrenada, anyway.

Now he knew how OZ had done it; their leader was certifiable. The man never seemed to miss a beat, never seemed to struggle with his decisions, never seemed quite human except in those moments after Wufei had used ZERO and there had been a surge of desperation, of knowing that someone else knew, of shared horror at the world they were in, and then it ebbed back again. 

The things he had seen in ZERO haunted him in the daylight; suggestions, memories, options. Roads to turn down as he drove and options which spun off of that until he wasn't sure of it was real or he was imagining the choices.

He was fairly certain he didn't actually have any choices, to be quite honest. Everything was a disaster and he had absolutely no idea what the hell he was doing. Maybe he would never manage to figure it out in its entirety.

Maybe he didn't want to.

Maybe if he did, it would lead him down roads he didn't want to take, and maybe he'd pulled over by the side of the road on his way back to Urspelt and had a raging screaming fit for a bit. If he did, then no one ever needed to know. 

By the time he had returned to the property, he had composed himself enough to assist in his insane partner’s equally insane request. Which definitely made him question his own sanity as anyone with a lick of sense should do. He was fairly certain that he could no longer be called someone who had sense or any approximation thereof.

"I'm back," he announced flatly, stepping into the shop, expression wildly grumpy. "What are you doing?"

"Making notes for the next time I do this." Simply sitting at his work bench, typing away at a datapad as if that were something most generals did. "Was it a good trip?"

Just sitting there and looking innocent. "I stole medical equipment, listened to the news, and cursed all the way there and back." The entire thing honestly made him more suspicious than if he had found him hanging upside down with a welding torch in hand.

Perhaps he had missed that encore.

"I'd ask 'who's winning', but I imagine it's a series of disorganized bloodbaths." He tilted his head thoughtfully, and then glanced up from his datapad. "And I would probably be cursing their technique."

Wufei shrugged. "Accurate," he advised. "So. Are we doing this now or waiting for later?" Might as well get it over with and let himself explode sooner than later if that were the eventual outcome.

"Oh, we might as well get this over with. We can celebrate with champagne after if you still have fingers and I still have legs." He turned the database off, and stood up smoothly.

"I'd better have fucking fingers," Wufei sniped. "I took everything into the house. Come on, then."

The man casually followed behind him, closing the door to the workshop and not bothering to lock it. Wufei supposed there were cameras, or perhaps not since the bucolic area only faced the threat of incoming war, not thieves.

"Do you prefer the kitchen or the bedroom?" Or somewhere else, but at a guess lying down would be the better choice in Wufei's opinion.

"I suppose the kitchen table is easier to clean than the bed. More stable." He opened the front door and led the way to the immaculate kitchen. It was clean but also unused as all their food was coming from the main property. It made it easier for Wufei not to worry about things like contamination or whether or not he'd be able to eat off of it again.

"All right." All right because what else was he supposed to say? Nothing he could think of, in all honesty, and so he grabbed the cases from beside the front door and followed him willingly enough. "So exactly where is it? Since you've no idea of any of the object specs, presumably you know at least that much."

Treize moved a hand to gesture at a spot just above his ass cheeks that Wufei had certainly stared at often enough when the man was naked and fetching things like lube and condoms. Water. Hmn. "Just over the sacrum."

"Of course." Wufei sighed. Of course it would be just above that quite delightful ass. "Go ahead. Strip and get on the table unless you want to help me figure out the scanner."

"Hmn, what kind of scanner did you appropriate?" he asked as he started to toe off his shoes. "Is there a visual output?"

He grunted by way of answer, beginning to poke at the device. He'd gotten a cursory explanation on how to use it from the person who'd brought it to him, so there was that at least. Better than nothing, anyway, and he started booting everything as appropriate while listening to the rustle of clothing.

"You could just start at the nanite scarring," Treize suggested, while pulling his shirt over his head.

"Yes, yes." He may have sounded absentminded but he was paying a desperate amount of attention. "With family like yours, you clearly don't need any enemies." Ah, there was the right bit, and he began skimming through it more quickly with his fingers.

Treize shifted into view completely and easily naked as if skimming off his clothes shamelessly were, well. He was obviously shameless was all there was for it, and he laid face down on the table. "No, one does not need help when you're from this family."

"Help or hindrance?" Wufei muttered, still flicking through screens. "All right, here. This will be cold." Cold because it was some sort of gel, and Wufei turned the bottle upside down and squeezed, quite sadistically enjoying the way Treize flinched. He took a moment to spread it slightly before wiping his hands and attaching the imaging wand to the device.

"I don't suppose it has helpful labels on it," Treize muttered, head pillowed on crossed arms. He was thankfully holding mostly still.

Carefully, Wufei moved the wand, pressing lightly when he was close, pushing when he wasn't. "No, and I do not read German, French, or Luxembourgish. So there is also that." Ah, that was definitely sadistic and a bit mean. "Fortunately, it's English." And it was showing him something that looked like a charge that was separated slightly from the actual device. That was going to hurt.

There wasn't much by way of sedatives, though he could numb the area, at least until he ran out of numbing and it was just hard to tell what the nanites would do. Frankly, it made him god awful nervous but there wasn't much to do about it except try the numbing agents and hope like hell that they would work and nothing would explode. With a sigh, he laid the device down beside Treize, flicking through to a static representation of the area. "All right. Give me a moment to wash my hands. I'll attempt to numb the area and then we'll go from there."

"Thank you." He turned around like he was bracing himself for it, and perhaps that was wise. Whatever would keep him from moving.

Maybe he should have come up with some way to knock him out. Something better than a rubber hammer or the frankly appalling amounts of liquor it would take to do the job. Instead, he opened the tube of topical analgesic and applied it before going to the sink and washing his hands thoroughly. Once that was done, he put on gloves and reached for the syringe and bottle of local anesthetic. Whether it would help or not considering the nanotech... well, they'd have to see. There was no telling; Treize had received blowback of the nanites that had been developed to destroy his colony, and they were voracious. Efficient. That he was still alive and maddening meant that work had been done on them, but it didn't put the idea out of Wufei’s head of them dancing up the length of the needle when he started to apply the local. If it had then he'd consider himself to be a great deal more fucked up than he already did. After all, the damned things had put an end to everyone he knew and loved.

He inserted the needle and deposited a few drops before waiting a handful of seconds and steadily pushing it deeper, injecting the anesthetic as he slowly withdrew it. The blanching looked normal, he was fairly certain, and he frowned at it. "How is that?"

"Strange, so probably appropriate." He didn't look over his shoulder that time.

Wufei drew in a deep breath and let it out again before moving to the second syringe and repeating the process. The worst thing that could happen would be that they would both blow up and the house with them, although he found it more likely that it would kill Treize and that he would be fucked up but not die. Either way, it sounded bad. "All right." Setting down the second needle, he picked up a packet and ripped it open, spreading disinfectant with the cold sweep of a swab.

Now was the dicey part, cutting around it just enough that he could get to it without accidentally touching it with metal that might cause it to detonate. Did one bother putting failsafes on a bomb in a body? He was pretty sure he'd be able to figure it out once he could see it; he had what his father had considered a frankly appalling knack with things like explosives and fire. Then again, they did live on a colony. It probably was a bit unnerving to realize that one's son was extremely capable when it came to blowing up things. Nothing like a tenuous ecosystem and explosives to put everyone on edge. He took a slow, deep breath, and exhaled through his nose, lowering the scalpel to part pale flesh.

Treize didn't move, and that at least was a relief. Wufei glanced over at the imaging device, checked the scalpel placement, and moved on. He was still unable to figure out _why_ he was doing this, any of it, but he also seemed to have a complete inability to stop himself so he'd given up on bothering to figure it out. Instead, he made a clean sharp incision, working to lay bare the device itself to see what it might be.

The deposed general made not a sound as he sliced, and held quite perfectly still while he cut and cut with care, through skin and then to the scarred suggestion that it was below a bit of muscle. Wufei's jaw clenched, a trickle of sweat tickling against the back of his neck. "You okay?" He wasn't sure what answer he wanted or expected. It didn't stop him from carefully cutting, and there. There was the device, bloody and attached bizarrely beneath the muscle.

It was shiny and compact and someone had designed it clearly for the purpose it had, which Wufei didn't want to dwell on overmuch. "Mmmhm." It was a strained sounding assent, and the man was still not moving, in a particularly tense way.

"I've got it. Or gotten to it," he murmured, brow furrowing sharply. He was fairly certain that he could see how it was connected. He took a deep breath, licked his lips, and gave a sharp tug at the wire connected to the device.

"Hnn!" Treize's shoulders bowed, and his head hung down sharply. "Fuck!" And maybe it was connected to something else, or just attached to something particularly painful out of spite.

"Sorry." And he was, honestly. "Sorry." Nothing has exploded, though, and Wufei gave a sharp huff of breath in gratitude. "Fuck, that's..." He shuddered. "It's disconnected. I don't know if I can get to the charge."

"Can you... see it?" He was shaking with tension, and Wufei wasn't sure he wanted to chance having a fun dig around.

"No." No, and he shuddered again. God. "Did the local anesthetic work at all?" He probably should have asked before but he hadn't wanted to know. Not really.

"Nnno." That made them zero for two, and wondering if he could even locate the charge itself. He slipped the scalpel blade in where he'd already cut, used the side to pry side to side to try to catch any glimpse of it. "Hnnnh, fuck."

"Fuck. Fuck, I'm sorry." And he was, he truly was. "I can get the controller, but I don't think I should chance digging out the charge." It had _looked_ like the anesthetic worked, the flesh had blanched as expected, but... Christ.

“Leave it. Leave the charge in, won't matter..." Without anything to set it off, and he wasn't thinking about arcing electricity just then, not if he wanted to keep his hands steady.

"All right." All right, okay, and maybe, maybe they could get the charge later, maybe they could figure out something else. For now, he eased the device from side to side, grimacing as it pulled away from the tissue that had grown around it, the sound alone enough to nauseate him. The noise that Treize gave was worse, and when he went limp against the table, Wufei wanted to weep at the realization that Treize had passed out. He set the sensor and detonator down on the table with a rush of relief and then eyed the sudden limpness. Whether Zero was right or not he didn't have to make it all worse. It didn't, yes, he could try, at least until Treize started to regain consciousness.

A deep breath, and then another, and he raised the scalpel again, knowing that he was making a mess and hoping to god that whatever damage he did might be corrected by the nanites. His own were programmed to assist in healing injuries which was the reason that they'd been so incompatible with the ones that had been released on his colony. If Treize were still alive and functional then he just had to hope that it was because the ones in him were working similarly.

By the time he managed to dig out the charge, Treize was still limp on the table. Wufei’s hands were covered in blood, shaking just a little, and he rapidly set the charge in a dish and stripped off his gloves before taking it and setting it beside the back door. Hopefully if it went off, that would be far enough from where they were. He washed his hands again, quick and thorough, and slid on a new pair of gloves before using a secondary scalpel to cut open the suture tray.

There was so much blood, and he wasn't sure where to start suturing, or what, because it was like the muscle had turned into fibers swimming in red sauce, and he was trying very hard not to think of stew while he blotted at the welling blood where he'd cut.

He was going to hold this against Treize for the rest of both of their lives. Possibly longer. The idea that there might not be any longer was unthinkable, and so he did his best, starting by trying to stitch together the muscle where it had ripped, and slowly working his way from inside to out. At least he was using an absorbable suture, so it shouldn't cause any more trouble than whatever else he'd managed to fuck up doing this. His hands shook, and it was hard to hold the hemostat. Wufei took a moment to be grateful that his grandmother had been so insistent that all of her grandchildren know how to do minor sewing because he could still remember how to do an invisible ladder stitch, and it seemed like the best way to close up everything.

It was like sewing wool in a way, and he held that in mind as he tightened the stitch and watched it all come together, the edges of muscle and skin puckering as it was forced back together in a mockery of what it had been. He could hear Treize breathing, a change of pattern suddenly.

"Be still," he advised quickly. "It's out. It's out, just let me..." Finish. He had to finish, and then there could be drugs, and... and he didn't know, but he needed to finish, and his hands were so fucking clumsy.

The noise of agreement he received was unsteady and a little desperate, and then Treize held very carefully still as Wufei managed to set the last stitch. He realized that his knees were buckling, and his hands grasped for the table, blood slick and slipping, useless to hold himself upright, and then he was frantically scrabbling to get off the gloves because he had to, he couldn't, and his face was in his hands as soon as they were free. His breath was a rasp in his throat, raw, at odds with the spill of late afternoon sunlight coming through the kitchen window and soaking the dark wood of the floor. Blood stained it as well, droplets littered around him, and he shoved his head between his knees.

"'ll be there. In a minute. In just. Just." A minute, and he had to pull himself together, so he held onto that desperate need for long seconds before he managed to do so. "Okay. Okay."

"That." Treize seemed to convulse with pain for a moment, and then resumed holding himself still as he could manage. "Worse than crashing out of and then into atmo after having a missile hit my suit. Fuck! Fuck, fuck..."

Scrambling desperately, Wufei managed to stand up, gasping in a sharp cold breath. "Are you allergic to anything? Any pain meds, any..." Because there were old school opiates in the box, some heavy duty synthetic painkillers, the kinds of things he probably would get arrested just for having, and that was honestly funny to the point at which he couldn't help choking out something akin to a hiccough, a not quite laugh.

Like he cared about getting arrested.

"No." Treize stretched one leg spasmodically, but it responded, it was moving, so he hadn't crippled the man; it was almost beyond belief that he cared about that, either.

Somehow, bloody hands and all, he managed to fumble around with a pre-loaded syringe of morphine, and somehow he injected it into a hip, listening to the pained sounds Treize was making. "I am never doing this again," he advised, and even his damned voice shook.

"Doubt you'll ever find these... circumstances again." The man rolled into his side, a gory mess that was flushed red where he wasn't bloody, and breathing hard. "Remarkable."

"What I'm saying is, don't get this shit done to you again because I'll leave you to it." And also that maybe he was going to puke. Everything was a disastrous mess. "For fuck's sake, don't move around."

"How many times can they depose a man?" His voice was shaky, and his hands were, one was clutching at the edge of the table, the other was still knotted into a fist.

Wufei was going to get up. He was. Any moment now, he was going to get up and start cleaning the blood and do something about the explosive by the door. Any second. "Fuck." Fuck, and he managed to scramble up and make it to the kitchen sink before he vomited.

Afterward, he felt... not better, precisely, but at least less immediately nauseated. Maybe he could handle cleaning up the blood before someone came in and thought they'd tried to kill one another.

Clearly since the former general was bareass naked and covered in most of the blood, Wufei had won the day. "Give me a few minutes and we can get upstairs. I could possibly walk." It was said while he laid precisely still on his side.

Ha! "Bullshit you can walk. Don't even think of moving." Particularly since he was going to have to do something about that charge and all of the blood. "Any thoughts on what to do with the things I removed?" Nataku wasn't nearby or he'd probably be better able to deal with it, considering the sheer amount of explosives he already had on board.

"Leave it in the workshop. I can repurpose it later." He was magnificently calm, and it was infuriating to Wufei.

Honestly. How dare he? Wufei's fucking hands were shaking. A lot of him was shaking, actually. "You fucker. What if it explodes in there?"

"I don't know. It managed not to explode inside me and I'm not a controlled environment." He was sweating now and starting to sound a little less enunciated.

Wufei's knees felt like they'd hold him up now without needing to lean against the sink and the cabinet underneath so he took a deep breath and moved to the table. "How are you feeling?"

"Alive." He had his eyes closed for a moment. "Perhaps it's best to throw a blanket over me for a few hours and we'll... see what the nanites do."

He hated that answer. "How's the pain?" He couldn't administer more of the drug he'd given for at least four hours, but he was pretty sure he'd seen one that could be given in conjunction with it. He'd have to check.

"Livable." He was starting to sound blurry. "There's. Uhh, supplements in the fridge. Grab one for both of us."

Right. Right, something like the nutrients that he'd given Wufei after the nanite incident, and he delved into the refrigerator before coming back to Treize, unscrewing the lid and leaning in to shift him just a bit, support his head and tip the bottle so that he could drink it more easily. He drank it down with careful intent, swallowing and breathing through his nose between swallows as if everything took extra concentration. It probably did, all things considered.

"Would a pillow help you settle? I'm going to try and..." Do something about the blood on the floor and on the table and on Treize.

"Yes." And a blanket, probably, and maybe he should just leave it all until Treize was nanite repaired enough to move because if they didn't start working he might have a corpse to deal with instead.

This was insanity. All of it, on his part, on Treize's part. He'd wanted a corpse when all of this started. He'd wanted to be responsible for the death of this man and now he was terrified that he might be. "All right." What else could he say but that? Nothing, and he left promptly, managing to make his way to the bedroom and come back with a pillow and a warm throw that Wufei was fairly certain no one would miss if it needed to be burned. With the sheer amount of blood on the table and any leaks still ongoing, it would have to be burned. He slid the pillow under Treize's head and the man's eyes boggled in his head, going this way and that with no focus for a moment. "Wufei? Thank you."

"For what? Killing you?" And if that sounded a bit like a sob, well. No one would ever know, because he doubted Treize would remember. If he didn't die, anyway.

"Freeing me." He got a flash of a deeply pleased smile before the man seemed to flag as though someone had flipped a switch.

At least he was out again. That was something, and Wufei stood there for a moment, shuddering and sick before he began to clean up the mess, starting with disinfecting the incision and working his way outward.

There had been a great deal of blood, and he supposed an IV would have been more appropriate than a bottle of he-didn't-know-what, exactly. Magnesium and zinc and water and nanite fuel. He didn't know about any of this, or at least nothing beyond field medic training and what he'd read about. They'd gone at this so half-assed and slapdash that it made him sick again, a little, but he managed not to vomit at least. Instead he worked steadily at cleaning up the blood, washed himself off at the kitchen sink, and threw his blood stained clothing into a garbage bag. He even went to the back door, planning to take the device and charge to the shop. He couldn't make himself walk away from Treize, though, not any further than it took to grab clean clothes and hurry back down into the kitchen. He knew he should, he just... couldn't. Treize was as still as death and that was worrying, but his breathing seemed good and his pulse was only a little higher than what felt like a normal pulse to Wufei.

So he sat.

And he waited.

Wufei knew he should check in with the others -- they didn't meet often, they'd barely known one another's names before he'd spent several weeks held captive with Heero and Duo, watching Trowa to see what he would do next. It was probably stupid to have any method of communication between them for fear it might be found, but honestly, who would think of something so primitive as a bulletin board system in today's day and age? It was ridiculous. It was even more ridiculous every time he logged in, actually, because Duo was a lunatic who had decided to customize everything. That would require him to get up and find the datapad, though, and in that particular moment he knew that he wasn't going to move until he was sure of whether or not Treize would at least wake up. Never mind actually living through the bloodiness and agony of un-anesthetized surgery on the damned kitchen table like they were in some sort of ridiculous historical romance novel.

He did eventually move; nature called, and while he was up it was easy to snag a datapad. His horror at his own participation hadn't eased back, but at least he could distract himself as he waited. Once he'd settled with his back against the wall and Treize in sight, he flicked open the datapad with a few finger touches, swiftly sorting through all of the information until he got to the tiny app that they'd cobbled together and logged into it.

> login: Wyrm  
>  password: **********
> 
> Rooms: Cybertechtronics (ct), Perdition (pd), The Circus (tc), Wyrm's Lair (wl), Djinn's Bottle (db)  
>  db  
>  password: **********  
>  You are now in: Djinn's Bottle  
>  Sand swirls ephemerally past the slotted mashrabiya, the air growing thick and oppressive with wind and flurries until the street cannot be seen. Beware the hunting **Djinn**!

Wufei shook his head. He'd question Duo's sanity, but honest to fucking god, then he'd have to question his own a lot more seriously. It wasn't worth consideration other than acknowledging the fact that the guy clearly had far too much time on his hands.

There were pinned notes from Quatre; information on troop movement, observations passed on by his ever loyal staff, a note that he was headed to Sanc because of the new government.

The government that had stood up after Treize's forced exile. He should probably be out there observing these things himself but instead he was holed up here. God, he shouldn't have been here. He should have been making better choices, and he knew he was going to have to leave. He had to... he didn't know anymore. 

He'd fucked up.

He'd taken the collar off the tiger because the man was free to leave his estate now. With his force of will and determination and a fucking Gundam, there was no way that new soft government wasn't going to collapse.

The easy solution would have been just to take that scalpel and cut the sleeping man's throat. Hell, the easy solution would have been to kill him when he'd walked into the door and not fall into... whatever this was. The weird squeeze of his chest told him exactly what it was and his teeth clenched tightly together, his breath weird and not quite right. Fuck. Fuck, he'd been so stupid, and he couldn't actually kill him now.

God. He couldn't kill Treize.

His chest hurt as he watched the man and waited and re-read Quatre's note, and then went delving in the other rooms, looking for the information he'd starved himself of by joining the general in his exile.

He'd been aware of what was happening, but somehow he'd... He'd gotten lost in this. Whatever it was. He'd gotten lost in Treize Khushrenada, the man he'd blamed for the destruction of his people for years. He'd lost _sight_.

He'd lost sense.

...he needed to see his father.

He set the datapad to wipe itself out of spite, and got up to inspect his enemy, his... He didn't know. Complication. He tugged at the blanket he'd tossed over the man to look at the wound site, to see what his handiwork was becoming.

The incision was weird. Instead of puckered and red and raw, it was pink. Reaching out, Wufei's shaking hand smoothed against it, fingers light as they gently stroked over the soft pink scar of it, and his breath was short and sharp and fucked up. Treize was healing. The nanites were repairing him, putting him back together somehow, though the man was covered in scars. It wasn't perfect work, but he was alive, and now Wufei was sure he'd live as long as they didn't over-write his brain.

Something about that was such a consolation, so overwhelmingly a relief, and it surprised him a little when he heard himself sob, once and then again, and he found himself kneeling by the table, face buried against Treize's side. His cheeks were wet and he couldn't stop gasping for breath because fuck. Fuck. He was going to live. He was going to...

He was going to live, and the hallucinatory mess in the cockpit of that ship was telling him that he wasn't. That he, he'd seen how it ended, he'd seen... None of it made sense.

Nothing made _sense_ , and when he felt a hand cup the back of his head, slide into the strands of his hair, he couldn't stop crying. He couldn't stop sobbing against Treize, even when the hand petted slow and easy and gentle.

Something about that felt somehow even worse.


End file.
